Q. Nick, why was it the right decision to release Devin White?
NICK SIRIANNI: Ever since Devin got here, I just thought he was a really great pro. He handled everything with class. I know that was a hard situation for him to be in, a guy that started a lot of games in this league and been successful in this league.
I can't say enough good things about Devin, the person, and how he handled a disappointing situation for him. I think it just gives you a perspective of what we feel about the rest of that room and the guys we have in that room and how they've been executing and how they've been playing. Look forward to continuing to grow with those guys that we have.
Q. You mentioned that at some point you might need Devin to play. Without him -- you mentioned the depth. How do you think that depth is now?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, like I said, I'm really excited about the guys in the room and the way they're progressing. I think Coach King, our linebacker coach, is a great fundamental teacher. I just continually see them improving their fundamentals in different aspects of block destruction and different things like that, blitzing.
Again, like I said, just excited about the room that we have and the depth that we have there. Guys have played -- some guys that have played meaningful snaps, some guys that are young in this game as well. Just excited about the development and the growth opportunity that we have in that room.
Q. Why wasn't he able to find a role, do you think, was signed as a free agent, had some success in the league?
NICK SIRIANNI: It goes back to Nakobe and Zack getting that spot, winning that spot. Like I said, that's not an easy situation. I can't say enough good things about Devin and how he handled a really hard situation.
Sometimes guys have roles on special teams, et cetera. Just in this particular case, this is where we were and just how it played out.
Q. Do you know what you fully had in Devin, or do you think there were things that were known but not seen in the regular season game?
NICK SIRIANNI: Again, we go through our process as far as how we practice and get a lot from how you practice. So I'm confident in our evaluation of players. As far as how we go about our business -- practicing, preseason games, et cetera -- just with every player in general.
Q. What's the most interesting thing you learned during the self-scout during the bye?
NICK SIRIANNI: You spend a ton of time there. I always get so excited for the bye week, just get locked into the room and sit there and figure out the things you do well, the things you don't do well. And the things that you don't do well, is it something that you can just eliminate or is it things that you have to get better at?
I think, generally speaking, our turnover differential that we need, that we have some different ways that we're going to coach a couple things and some tackling things and how we're going to coach a couple things and drill a couple things.
Again, every bye week, every self-reflection you go through, it's got to start with being humble to say what are the issues? And that's for everybody, right? Being humble of, hey, these are the issues. How do we -- and then putting thought into how you do different things. I'm just speaking of like fundamentals -- of how you do different things and then adapting to it.
I think the whole general thing of how can you get better can start with are you hungry to get better? Does it drive you? Are you obsessed with it? Are you waking up in the middle of the night thinking about how you can get better, how you do things different. Are you at home and your mind's wandering to figure things out. That's just that desire, that hunger.
Then are you humble enough to say here are the issues and here's what we've got to do. So hungry and humble, Jay Wright would always say that, and I always thought that was a really good way to say it. The 10,000 foot view, that's how you get better is those ways.
As far as one specific thing, there's a lot of things we studied and looked at, but we looked at a lot of different things turnover-wise and creating turnovers.
Q. You do stress winning the turnover battle. You've had a chance to look at the first four games. Did you see any common thread between the turnovers in offense and why you're not creating them on defense?
NICK SIRIANNI: Not only do you look at the first four games, you also go back and look at four years of us being here. You do that after every season. You do that during every bye week, every opportunity to self-evaluate. So we did that as well.
Sure, there's common threads, I won't get into that, but there are definitely common threads that -- again, you've got to identify issues and then try to put the guys in positions to fix those issues, whether it's with a drill, whether it's with a play call. So a lot of good discussion back and forth.
I was impressed by the players and their involvement in it as far as the way not only did we study it, there are some guys that really buckled down and studied it themselves. I was just really impressed by that and their interaction back with that. I mean, really impressed. It showed their hunger.
Q. (No microphone)?
NICK SIRIANNI: That's something I'll keep private, but it really did show their hunger of how they went about their business this week as well.
Q. On offense, your use of motion has decreased since week 1. Why has that been?
NICK SIRIANNI: Again, different game plans call for different things. Sometimes a game plan calls for a lot of motion, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes there's more tempo, and sometimes there's not. Sometimes the tempo plays into it, and sometimes it doesn't. Different things happen. It's a small sample size.
Q. Is Jalen comfortable -- does the ability factor into it?
NICK SIRIANNI: He's comfortable. You can ask him, but I know he's comfortable with the things. Again, small sample size. Different game plans call for different things.
Q. Specifically with false starts on offense, did you have a chance to look at the opening of the first four games, any takeaways?
NICK SIRIANNI: Of course. You go through all those different things and you think about, again, that's just not a four-game study, that's a four-year study we take a look at, and we definitely have some thoughts -- we know we've got to start faster. We know we've got to score in the first quarter.
Yeah, everything was on the table as far as the style of plays, the players, how we call it, how the defense looks to open things up. And we have some really good thoughts coming out of it. Obviously not going to get into specifics. You'll see how that transpires.
Again, like I said about the bye week, there's just so much room for growth because of the extra time that you get to really put the work in and grind it out to see what you can do better and what you do well.
Q. Is there a discussion right now with Vic in terms of position changes to get the defense to where it needs to be?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, we're always trying to figure out who plays where. Some guys are cemented in, but figuring out who plays where, who's playing, what kind of snaps we're playing it.
Q. I think if you ask most people, what's the nucleus of a franchise, who are the core people, they would probably say ownership, head coach, quarterback. In your experience, what's the biggest challenge in making sure those three entities are always on the same page?
NICK SIRIANNI: Communication, talking through everything, having hard discussions -- it's not Kumbaya, but it's having hard discussions, telling the truth to each other. At the end of the day, like it always comes down to communication.
I don't care if it's the relationship with your wife, your relationship with your kids, your relationship with the players, your relationship with ownership, your relationship with the GM, I think that always is going to be the core -- and honesty are going to be the core things of any good relationship, in any meshing.
We know how important relationships are, and particularly the ones you just mentioned. So, yeah, that's what it's about in my mind, and that's what we strive and try to do.
Q. Robert Saleh getting fired, your class of coaches, obviously you know what this profession is, but when something like that happens, do you think about your coaching mortality, so to speak?
NICK SIRIANNI: No. I obviously wish him nothing but the best. I had a good working relationship with Coach Saleh, being able to practice against those guys. I've got a lot of respect for him. Always wishing him and his family the best. I think he's a really good football coach.
But my mind is set on only how do we get better? Like if I'm upset -- anything out of your control or anything that consumes your mind that's not focused on getting better is a waste of time. It only clouds the process driven of like if I'm waking up at 4:00 in the morning and my mind's not -- just my mind, I'm thinking about what am I going to say to the team? Like I'm excited. It's hard for me to go back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night. Okay, I could say this. I'm going to message this. Oh, what if we did this on defense? What if I did this with special teams? What if I had this conversation with this guy?
If my mind -- I get so much -- I get less sleep, but I get a lot of things done there. My trip home, my drive into work, my drive out of work, there's so many things -- if you're focused on things that don't -- that you can't control, then that's going to cloud that hunger and that drive to get better. That's all that we think about is the hunger, drive to get better. I know you probably can say, oh, that's coach talk, but I'm not bullshitting you.
That's how I live, that's how I've operated. You are what your habits are, and that's how I've been operating for a big portion of my life.
Q. What's the difference in the offense when you have A.J. versus without him?
NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously A.J. is a phenomenal player. Again, when he goes down, you ask questions as far as who can do this and who can do that? Sometimes the answer is player A, sometimes the answer is player B, sometimes the answer is it's an A.J. thing.
So obviously there's differences that happen when he's on the field, and quite frankly, there's just some differences the way the defense plays you when he's on the field. That's common for any good player in this league that's been as successful as A.J. is.
Q. Could Jeremiah Trotter be the backup mike?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yes.
Q. Why?
NICK SIRIANNI: Again, these aren't just things we make decisions on as far as no evidence. We practice every day. We walk through every day. We meet every day obviously and come to those conclusions in that aspect.
Q. Speaking of A.J., are you expecting to have him and DeVonta and Lane Johnson back this week?
NICK SIRIANNI: We'll see. Early on in the week, we'll get you guys the report later on today. Feel good about the health of our football team. Bye week came in at a good time for us for different reasons.
Q. What's the plan with Sydney this week?
NICK SIRIANNI: Have we said anything? Window's open, as you know. We'll see how he does and how he looks. Obviously he's ready to start going because our trainers and our doctors have said he's ready. It's time to go. Sydney is -- man, has he attacked this with such a positive attitude, and just you talk about a guy who's obsessed with getting better and obsessed with this game of football, that's Sydney.
We'll see where he is as we go. Obviously you guys know he's practicing, and we'll see how he looks, but he's looked good on the side there, but now it's a little different because you're changing directions with bodies around and all those different things. Again, we'll see where he is but excited he's at least back on that field because we've got a lot of high hopes for Sydney.
Q. With turnovers, giveaway, takeaway ratio, you talk about that a lot, but how much is coachable and how much is just guys making plays?
NICK SIRIANNI: I think a lot of it, I think everything we feel like we do is, when you're looking at yourself first at all times, you're always going to think this is a direct reflection of me and how I coach, and you've got to be able to do that to get better. So like to me it's -- you get what you emphasize as a football coach.
So it's not just about talking, it's about your habits. What are your habits doing that create that? That's what I mean by like we do our drills to do it. We videotape it differently. Then shout out to our video department. We actually get like essentially a TV camera out there that gets you the good, close looks of the ball.
Again, we're obsessed with it, but it's not just by speak. It's by our habits. Then if it's not meshing, what's going on. Then you've got to think about yourself, like how do you coach it different, how do you refine it different, how do you drill it different? So those are all the things that were discussions. Like I said, it might not be big tweaks, but there are tweaks of like here's how we want to drill this going forward. Here's how we want to rep this particular one going forward, some different thoughts.
But anything that happens on that football field, head coach is responsible for every one of it, and you'd better have answers as far as how you do things better. You've always got to be digging for that. If I want my players to have that hunger and desire, they need to see me with that hunger and desire. So I think, to answer your question, a hundred percent.
Q. Is Cooper DeJean taking over at slot cornerback?
NICK SIRIANNI: He's obviously been getting reps at slot. We'll see how it goes this week. Avonte's been doing a good job. Avonte's been a good player here for a long time. I've been pleased with what he's doing. We'll see how it goes this week.
Cooper obviously has more on his plate than he has in the past with the punt return duties and some of the things he's doing on special teams. Again, pleased with how Avonte's going, but we'll continue to work the reps for all the guys this week and see where we are at the end of the week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports